FDR's New Deal: Long-Term Consequences
The most active First Hundred Days was under president Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s first term. In a desperate attempt to solving the woes of the American population, FDR and his Congress passed more bills than any other president-congressional combination as ever done in their first impression time period. FDR’s domestic policy, known more widely as the New Deal, was intended to be a group of innovative measures to counteract the effects of the Great Depression. Roosevelt and the U.S. Congress, trying to reduce unemployment, restore prosperity and return a sense of morale to American citizens, endorsed a wide variety of bills creating new federal programs and agencies. These agencies were known as alphabet agencies due to their titles that included many different letters (i.e., WPA, FERA, TVA).
Although the New Deal was initiated to return prosperity to the American economy, in the long run, the New Deal was probably the worst policy ever started. Though providing quick relief to some areas of depression, the New Deal was overall a very socialist, perhaps even communist plan. Controlling prices, giving out jobs, commanding water flow, were just some of the many practices engaged in by the government tat went against capitalistic American point of views.
Some agencies did do good, however. The New Deal’s dealing with the banks was performed very well. It returned trust in leaving money in the banks with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). This act insured investor’s deposits in banks tat were members of the FDIC. Also, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) which set guidelines for the stock market to prevent speculation like that that led to the Great Depression.
Despite those agencies mentioned above, the other creations of the New Deal led to nothing but trouble in the long run. Agencies such as the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Works Progress Administration (WPA), and Public Works Act (PWA) created jobs for none other than young white men, excluding women and blacks to a large degree. These agencies provided so-called jobs to men, though they were not considered jobs to critics of the program, who called them boondoggling jobs. Some people were required to dig a trench, then fill it in again just so they could get a salary and say they had a job. Conservatives condemned this as a waste of government...